Thursday, January 26, 2012

Here is a guest post from frequent commenter and occasional poster Matthew Watt. Ironically he sent this to me just before Terry Jones' column on the probably extension being offered the GM. Enjoy.

I, like the man who words grace this blog, come from good stock. Loving, caring, respectful people. My family does have their intricacies (don’t know if the Al Gore is big enough for me to outline what all of these are, I keed), but in all they are just good people. Especially my dad.

Now in my dad’s world, there is no greater joy than talking with others. When he tells you about how his perfect day went, the words “just had so many great visits” are uttered numerous times. You would think he gets sick of it after awhile, but no. Hell, he has now made his daily routine to be visiting and talking with others, and he would have it no other way.

Did I tell you he is a politician?

My dad also ensures that the visit is always on his dime; he is extremely benevolent. Every time, no matter the place, he is always gets the bill. Hotel rooms for family events, taken care of by him. Gas when going on vacation, just use his fuel card. Meals, he gives his credit card to the waiter before everyone is seated. Generous as they come.

Except in one instance. My dad, to celebrate his sons coming of age will always take us out for a night of drinks. However, when I became 18 we just never got around to it. A year passed, I then started university and the subject was never approached till Christmas break. One night when I was back home on holidays, my dad then decided that this would be the time he takes me out to the bar. Good enough for me. So out we went, to the local watering hole and proceeded to make a night of it. Due to it being Christmas time, lots of locals were there and my dad ended up visiting with some of his friends and me with mine. He just told me “put your drinks on my tab, I will pay it at the end of the night.” So I did.

Night comes to a close, Dad calls mom to come pick him up, and he goes to pay the bill. To say he was shock was a bit of an understatement. Not to sound like a blowhard but I come from a long lineage of people who can hold their liquor, and that first semester of university only helped my cause. My dad found that out when the tab came. To be honest I probably bought a few rounds for others there, and grabbed a case of beer at the end of the night to drink at a friend’s, but still drank a bit too much for dad’s liking.

“I don’t mind buying you some drinks,” he said, “I just no longer want to fund your pissers, that is for sure.”

My dad hasn’t taken me out to the bar since; funny how that works.

Derek Zona stated that someone close to Oilers management has said that they have expressed interest in extending Cam Barker’s stay in Edmonton. I say you don’t even have to be close to the situation to know that. Spector said during intermission of one game I saw that injuries can’t be excuses, but this team misses Barker who was one of their “top 4 defenceman.” Then while I was listening to the radio on my way home from the Calgary game (yes I was there for the game and no I do not want to talk about it), Tencer was saying how you can’t blame Tambo for how the defence corps are so bad when the likes of Whitney and Barker, two of their top 4 defenceman, are out with injuries.

You know as well as I that both Spector and Tencer are getting this information from one place, and it is definitely not from fans in Section 203 (or from watching games apparently). Their writing shows that they are close to those at the top, and will do lots to keep those ties intact. Their actions so far speak to this. And what they are getting from management is that Barker is part of the Oilers long-term plans.

You only have to watch the games Cam Barker played in to know how much this team needs him, which is not at all. The guy skates like he has lead weights in his ass, acts like a traveller in a foreign land when the puck is in the Oilers end, and does not offer much on offence. To put it nicely, he is a black hole of a defenceman and I haven’t even started on his underlying numbers which show him to be a further joke.Yet this management team feels it would be a good idea to extend his stay in Edmonton.

I for the longest time gave this management group the benefit of the doubt. One has to be this way as a fan to see what you have got for a brain trust. Now Oilers brass making bad moves is nothing new, the past 6 years of mismanagement is a pretty impressive study in futility. Just read either Pat, Tyler, Lowetide, Zona, Reynolds, Willis, etc., all outline just how inept this brain trust is. Yet, as a blind fan, I still held out hope that those in charge would find a way to figure things out. Oilers management was just having sex for the first few times. In time, they will be making love.

No more. The tea leaves have been shown. This management truly believes that one of the most ineffective defenceman in all of the NHL, someone who should be working on his trade in a lesser league, is top 4 NHL defenceman. Those close to them have said so. They also believe this after Barker playing 12 games this year where he was largely ineffective, to go along with previous years of him being a bust. What the hell is going here? We get rid of the NHLers like Hedja but keep Barker. Dispose of Brodziak for picks, in turn signing Belanger as replacement (who has been pretty brutal this year, especially in the Calgary game). Trade Smyth for picks that never turned out. I could go on and on, but the message is clear on how this management group runs this team.

Like my dad, I have been a benevolent soul towards Oiler management. Like my dad, I also know when enough is enough. The guys in charge don’t have a fucking clue. As such they need to go, sooner than later.

For I, like many other Oiler fans, am tired of funding the pissers they have at the expense of us.